Utility boxes, such as electric meter boxes, are typically secured to prevent unauthorized access to the meter. Many of such boxes are secured through the use of split ring that is placed directly around the meter and locked through the use of a barrel lock. Other utility boxes, referred to as “ringless” boxes, do not include a lockable meter ring. Ringless boxes are secured by securing a lock assembly containing a barrel lock on either a side wall or a bottom wall of the box.
A preferred type of barrel lock for use with the above-described utility boxes is known as a rotating disk barrel lock. These locks include multiple rotating combination disks that, when rotated into the proper position via a key, will open the lock. Known barrel locks include relatively complicated working surfaces on the rotating disks, and correspondingly complicated key surfaces, to obstruct attempts at picking the lock. An example of such a rotating disk barrel lock is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,631, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
To remove a key from known rotating disk barrel locks, the key must be rotated to a locked position. This rotates a cylinder of the lock to a locked position and scrambles the rotating disks in such a way that a lock keyway is formed allowing the key to be withdrawn.
In view of the above, known rotating disk barrel locks are delivered for installation in a locked state. As will be appreciated, in order to install these locks, they must be first unlocked with a key, installed in a split ring or a body of a ringless box lock, and then relocked.
As will be appreciated, this requires installers to carry a key capable of both locking and unlocking the barrel lock. These keys are relatively complex with intricate cam surfaces, expensive and, if lost or stolen, could potentially threaten the security of an entire utility system, which typically utilizes a single lock and key for a system. Moreover, the installation process is unnecessarily complicated by the fact that the barrel lock must first be unlocked prior to installation.
With the forgoing concerns in mind, it is the general object of the present invention to provide a key system for a rotating barrel lock that includes a master key, which allows the barrel lock to be delivered to installers in an unlocked state, and a simplified dummy key which allows the barrel lock to be locked but not unlocked thereby reducing costs and providing an increased level of security. It is also a general object of the present invention to provide a key system that will work with certain known barrel locks.